 Today we're going to continue in chapter 14, first Samuel, and I'm actually going to take it from verse 16 to the conclusion of the chapter, and in these verses there are a lot of summarizations, things that will be reading just so that we continue and get through this particular chapter. There are some points of application that will be made, but a lot of it is summarization and just information that is necessary for us to get an idea of where King Saul is in his life and all, and so we'll do a lot of reading today and I'll be touching on a few things and hopefully making some application in certain places. So let's begin reading at verse 16. I'll read at verse 23 and we'll get into our study. First Samuel, chapter 14, beginning at verse 16, reading to verse 23. Now the watchman of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked and there was the multitude melting away and they went here and there. And Saul said to the people who were with him, now call the roll and see who has gone from us. And when they had called the roll, surprisingly Jonathan and his armor-bearer were not there. Saul said, Diah, bring the Ark of God here, for at that time the Ark of God was with the children of Israel. Now what happened? While Saul talked to the priest that the noise which was in the camp of the Philistines continued to increase, so Saul said to the priest, withdraw your hand. Then Saul and all the people who were with him assembled and they went to the battle and indeed every man's sword was against his neighbor and there was very great confusion. Moreover the Hebrews who were with the Philistines before that time, who went up with them into the camp from the surrounding country, they also joined the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan. Likewise, all the men of Israel who had hidden in the mountains of Ephraim, when they heard that the Philistines fled, they also followed hard after them in the battle. So the Lord saved Israel that day and the battle shifted to Beth Avene. So what we have here is we have a situation where the nation of Israel is in combat with the Philistines. Remember with me that Saul has a son and the son's name is Jonathan. And earlier Jonathan had seen a garrison of the Philistines and had desired to have combat with them and he had actually gone and had some combat with them and then later on on the second occasion there was a second garrison that Jonathan and his armor bearer went and actually attacked and it created a tremendous uproar. See the first time that Jonathan had gotten into it with this group of Philistines, it had provoked a hornet's nest response and so thousands of chariots and horsemen and infantry had drawn up into Israel and had begun to make preparation to go out war with them, to go into battle with them. And so when that was taking place, Jonathan and his armor bearer decided to go and see what they were up to and provoked them a garrison into a fight, ultimately routed them and it had created a great repercussion in the life of the nation of Israel. Verse 15 here says, there was trembling in the camp, in the field and among all the people. The garrison and the raiders also trembled in the earthquake so that it was very great trembling. And so there was a tremendous move and the Philistines even recognized this as being the hand of God. You see early in the history of Israel in the book of Exodus chapter 23 verse 27, God had said, I will send my fear before you, I will cause confusion among all the peoples to whom you come and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. And so God had made a promise to them and this is what has taken place. God is working on behalf of the nation of Israel. Now as this is taking place, the Philistines are becoming aware of the fact that through this earthquake and all that the God of Israel is on Israel's side and it's created great panic in their troops. And so in verse 16 it tells us, a watchman of Saul in Gibeah, Benjamin looked and there was the multitude melting away and they went here and they went there and Saul said to the people who were with them, call the roll, see who has gone from us. And when they had called roll, surprisingly Jonathan and his armor bear were not there. Saul said to Hea, bring the Ark of God here for that at that time the Ark of God was with the children of Israel. And so Saul's spies have seen that the Philistines are in full retreat, they inform him of what has taken place. His response is to call roll, discovers Jonathan and his armor bear are not present. He's not sure what this all means and so according to verse 18 he wants to inquire of God as to what has happened. So he calls Hea who's the priest in order that Hea may ask of God so that God can give them an answer. Well it says in verse 19 it happened while Saul talked to the priest that the noise which was in the camp of the Philistines would continue to increase. So Saul said to the priest, withdraw your hand. Then Saul and all the people who were with him assembled. And they went to the battle, indeed every man's sword was against his neighbor and there was a great confusion. And so what happens is as this is taking place and he's asking the priest to ask of God what is taking place and the priest is in process of doing so, as this takes place he is distracted. Saul is distracted by the sound that he's hearing. He says that while Saul talked to the priest that the noise which was in the camp of the Philistines continued to increase so Saul said to the priest, withdraw your hand. He's distracted. And so this gives us some insight into Saul. This gives us insight into his shallowness. It also gives us insight into his lack of faith. This noise, the noise of the retreating Philistines has distracted him. And so instead of continuing his inquiry of the Lord he simply is telling the priest, never mind. So the ease of this distraction reveals something of his shallowness and it reveals something of his lack of faith. If he were truly desiring God's direction he would have been praying with more fervency. If he were truly seeking the Lord he would have prayed with the kind of expectation that would have been necessary for that moment. And the Bible tells us that we're to pray with a fervency, the fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much, James tells us in chapter 5 verse 16. So there's this attitude of expectation and an attitude of fervency that goes into our prayer life. And there are times when something has happened in your life, there's something that has happened in my life that when I'm praying I cannot be distracted because I'm so intense on what I'm speaking to the Lord about I might not even notice somebody entering into the room until they tap me on the shoulder or interrupt me where they may say excuse me pastor I need to ask you something. There are times that that has happened and it happens infrequently, it's not every time I pray but it does happen and there are times when I'm really seeking the Lord and really wanting to know what God wants about something that no matter what's going on you're not being distracted there are some who are praying so intensely an explosion could go off next to them they wouldn't even notice it I mean they're seeking the Lord. But in the case of Saul he's distracted immediately. First he's asking the priest go and seek the Lord and find out what is taking place this enormous army is melting away ask God what this means and so even as Ahia is making inquiry of the Lord because Saul is distracted by the sound of the Philistines in full retreat he tells them withdraw your hand that's enough I'm really not interested let's go out and see what's taking place and so that's what happens. If you were truly desiring God's direction he had been praying with more concern. Well in verse 21 more over the Hebrews who were with the Philistines before that time who went up with them into the camp of the surrounding country they also joined the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan you see when the Philistines entered in and began to occupy oftentimes there'd be towns and villages and they would be occupying that were inhabited by Hebrews and so these Hebrews were into forced servitude to the Philistines and they had to accompany them as they went on on their way to battle but now that the Philistines are evaporating these people who had been conscripted into their service is now on the side of the nation of Israel because that's where their hearts were all along verse 22 says all the men of Israel who had hidden in the mountains of Ephraim when they heard that the Philistines fled they also followed hard after them in the battle these are the ones who had been afraid at first and and now that they see God is really on their side they get courage and they move out and and they see God moving and so they're going to naturally be on the side of of the nation it says in verse 23 so the Lord saved Israel that day and the battle shifted to Beth of in and so this is what's taking place here God is saving them the people are becoming aware of him him doing that but Saul is revealing something about himself and you'll see this more clearly in verse 24 the men of Israel were distressed that day for Saul had placed the people under oath saying cursed is the man who eats anything or any food until evening before I have taken vengeance on my enemies so none of the people tasted food now all the people of the land came to a forest and there was honey on the ground and when the people had come into the woods there was the honey dripping but no one put his hand to his mouth for the people feared the oath but Jonathan had not heard his father charge the people with the oath therefore he stretched out the end of the rod that was in his hand and dipped it in a honeycomb and put his hand to his mouth and his countenance brightened and so once again we see Saul's rashness as well as his ineptitude he had given strict orders I don't want anybody eating until evening and he put him under an oath but I want you to notice that he didn't want them to eat any food until he had been satisfied by victory in other words he was concerned with his own glory and his own honor and much more concerned with that than he was for their strength so the soldiers have entered into a wood and as they enter into the wood there's a honeycomb on the ground and they're hungry they're famished they've been at war they've been battling they need some some strength but none of them will touch that because they made this oath and so here comes Jonathan as Jonathan walks in he sees the honey there he takes his the rod that he has in his hand and he dips it and takes some of the honey and immediately the Bible tells us that he was brightened and in other words he gained strength from this but at this point as he does this somebody says something to him notice verse 28 one of the people said your father strictly charged the people with an oath saying cursed it is the man who eats food this day and the people were faint they were so hungry that they were fainting there it was too late to stop Jonathan so all they could could do is tell him you just violated the oath your father made everybody swear well Jonathan's response is interesting verse 29 Jonathan said my father has troubled the land look now how my countenance has brightened because I tasted a little of this honey how much better if the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies which they found for now would there not have been a much greater slaughter among the Philistines my father's command was foolish you're the ones who fought you're the ones who won you should have been refreshed and in my father having you make this oath it only reveals something of my father's foolishness ecclesiastes in chapter 5 verse 2 says do not be rash with your mouth let not your heart utter anything hastily before God for God is in heaven and you on earth therefore let your words be few don't promise God what you don't plan on keeping don't make promises to God that you're going to break later on it's like that guy out there in the ocean and he's been swimming and he gets a cramp and he starts to try and make it in the shore and before you know it he's telling God if you save my life you know I'll go in the mission field for you I'll serve you all that just God save my life I'm gonna drown he makes it half way and he says God if you just save my life I'm gonna serve you Lord if you just save my life I'll serve you then he finally makes it to the shore and he says thank you God for saving me I'll go to church in a couple of weeks you know it's that mentality of you know sometimes you make these promises to God but you really aren't intending to keep them don't make rash vows to God don't make oaths to God let your words be few because what happened with Saul is Saul made this rash vow to God but it's going to cost it says in verse 31 they had driven back the Philistines that day from mcmash to a gilin so the people were very faint that's about 15 miles and the people rushed on the spoil and took sheep oxen and calves and slaughtered them on the ground and the people ate them with the blood then they told Saul saying look the people are sinning against the Lord by eating with the blood so he said you've dealt treacherously roll a large stone to me this day then Saul said disperse yourselves among the people and say to them bring me here every man's ox and every man's sheep slaughter them here and eat do not sin against the Lord by eating with the blood so every one of the people brought his ox with him that night and slaughtered it there what happened is they're so hungry they need to eat and they violated the law of God there's a couple of things here that that you need to be aware of one is according to the law in the book of Leviticus in chapter 22 verse 28 according to that portion of scripture you never slaughter a calf and its mother on the same day you do not slaughter the calf and the mother on the same day so they are slaughtering calves and their mothers on the same day thus violating the law secondly according to Leviticus chapter 17 verse 12 you don't eat the flesh with blood what they would do when they slaughtered the meat is they would hang it up so that the blood would drain from it properly but the Bible here says that they would they got the animals they slaughtered it there on the ground and that means they didn't drain it of its blood and so in violation of the law on those two points they are now going to be judged or dealt with by God now Saul gets upset about this and Saul says roll over here a big rock the reason the rock is being brought to him is so that they can take the meat that they're slaughtering their own cattle and they can actually hang the carcasses on that rock so that it drains properly and he's trying to keep the Lord from bringing judgment on the people because of the improper way that they're dealing with this well as this is taking place verse 35 and I'm going to spend some time looking at this with you by point of application it says Saul built an altar to the Lord this was the first altar that he built to the Lord this altar that was being built is intended to be an expression of gratitude for the victory God has granted over over the Philistines it's interesting how it says here this was the first altar that he built to the Lord because there's no record after this one altar of him ever building a second one this is the only altar that he ever built and it doesn't impress the Lord whatsoever you see what he's doing is he's doing something religious he's actually joining in a long line of men who had gone on before him who built altars to God and when they would build these altars to God they were being dedicated to God because God had done something or met them in a certain way so the altar would be built there as a place of communication and remembrance between that individual and their God and so you have a lot of people in the Bible who are well known to us who are known for building altars you can look all the way in Genesis in chapter 8 verse 20 and there you find a man by the name of Noah and it says in Genesis 8 20 Noah built an altar to the Lord you can look in Genesis chapter 12 verse 7 and it says the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him to your descendants I will give this land there he built an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him we know that Abram became an altar builder because he built at least four altars then you have Isaac his son in Genesis 26 verse 25 and it says that Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord you have Moses in Exodus chapter 17 verse 15 where it says that Moses built an altar and called its name the Lord is my banner you have a man by the name of Joshua in chapter 8 verse 30 which says Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal you have Gideon in Judges 6 24 where it says Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it the Lord is peace you have Samuel in 1 Samuel 7 verse 17 how it says Samuel built an altar to the Lord in his hometown of Rama the thing is that these men were building altars in commemoration and worship to God or as solace using it as a religious symbol there are a lot of people who like religious symbols who even wear religious symbols because they associate with the symbol but not necessarily with the God who originated the symbol I had people say this to me before I've heard it just this last week oh the guy's a Christian how do you know he's a Christian he wears a cross there are a lot of people who wear crosses there are a lot of people who use it as an article of jewelry they wear crosses because they like it for some reason so they wear their cross there are a lot of people who do that they have crosses that they wear sometimes they tattoo their body with crosses sometimes they buy clothing that has crosses you know and it's a symbol for them and they want to use this and in some ways they look at it as being almost like a good luck charm of some sort so they carry the religious things with them they want to have something with them that has religious significance but it's not that they really honor the God who is symbolized by that it's just that they use the symbol for themselves and this is what Saul's doing he's building an altar but it's not something that's sincere before I got saved I had a friend of mine who had started going to this small church called Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa and he gave to me one of these little pocket bibles it really was a little red book and it had promises from the Bible and he said Dave you ought to read this and in reality what he wanted to do is to get me starting to read the Bible so I could read things about God and salvation and that's what this little Bible was supposed to do it had selected verses there that were supposed to help the person who's reading it to see God's plan of salvation and so he gave me this little red pocket Bible now I was one of these guys if you gave me a Bible or something religious I wasn't about to throw it in the trash so I would carry it with me so I got this red Bible and I still remember and I put it in my back pocket I didn't throw it away but I never read it either I just couldn't get myself to throw it away so I carried it in my back pocket but I was into drugs and things and some friends, three friends of mine and I had taken off together I had this 1962 Ford Falcon station wagon I had painted the windows black and I had a piece flag in the back window so you couldn't look into this wagon my dad used to call it my hippy wagon and I drove my friends into LA and we were looking for a party or something and I remember pulling over in an industrial zone and we had some hash some of you know what that is we had some hash and so we started smoking hash and as I was there in the back there because I had taken the seats and put them down and I had put in a mattress and blankets and things I could sit in there with my friends and we could party and so my friends and I are there smoking hash and as we're there smoking we look and I see this lights something's pulling up behind us and I look and it's a police cruiser and so we're smoking hash in my car and so I jump into the driver's seat and one of the guys jumps into the passenger seat and I'm looking in my rear view mirror until this officer comes walking up the side taps on the window I roll the window down my eyes are bright red from smoking this hash and all and he begins to speak to me I still remember some of the conversation and asked me what are you doing here and I said oh we're just kind of hanging around got lost and pulled over he said you're not doing any drugs or drinking are you you know my eyes are bright red and he's got the flashlight in my eyes and I said oh no no no of course not officer and I stuck my hand in my back pocket and I pulled out this red Bible and I said I don't do drugs man I got something better than drugs because these hippies had been telling me Jesus is better than drugs so I just was there going yeah you know I got you know Jesus is better than drugs I am wasted on hash holding a Bible saying oh yeah and people will do that they do it to this day they have their crosses they have their t-shirts that say things slogans and all of that they carry the little Bibles but they don't read them and they don't live and that's what Saul was doing he built an altar an altar that gave the impression that he really sought God but we have already seen that he's not seeking God because when he has an opportunity to ask of God what is taking place through the priest he tells the priest stop seeking him let's go see what's taking place he doesn't have a heart like that and a lot of people are very similar to that religious symbols as if that's gonna save you many years ago over 20 years ago now I received a phone call in the office young lady had called and had said I'd like to dedicate my child to the Lord and we have dedications and I said well that's wonderful do you go here and we began to speak no I don't go there my mom would like us though it's me to dedicate my child I said well can you explain some things to me about you know what you walk with the Lord and long story made short she wasn't a Christian she wasn't married she wanted her boyfriend to come up with a child and all three of them wanted to do that but they wanted to do it for mom's sake not because they had a relationship with God and so I said to her you know this dedication of the child to the Lord is more than simply us holding a baby up and praying for it I said it is really not the child so much that I pray for as for the family because the child if the child is raised in a Christian home has a good opportunity and a good chance of coming to faith in Christ and so what I really am praying for is mom and dad to raise the child to know Jesus Christ I said so if you don't have a relationship with the Lord and your boyfriend and you aren't even married and yet you're saying together you want to raise a child out of faith in Christ you really need to get right with God so she says so you're not gonna dedicate my baby and I said I can't dedicate your baby until you get right with God and put things right the way they ought to be well she got upset obviously and she says well thank you anyway and hangs up a couple of weeks later a friend of mine tells me that they knew of the circumstances and they said you know she was at such and so church she dedicated her baby in church this last weekend the same girl who had been told this is it's wrong for you to do that had found a way around it she simply called another church didn't tell them her circumstances and wanted to do it as a religious act so that her mom might think that she was doing well with the Lord sometimes we have baptisms here and people will go out to the baptism and go into that water and be water baptized not because they have a right relationship with God but because it'll get their mom and dad off their back because mom and dad won't be bothering me anymore because they're gonna see I'm baptized and they think I'm serious with God when in reality they're not serious at all they're just washing their flesh they're just going into the water and coming out and buying themselves some time to continue in the life that they've been living see religious symbolism doesn't save you it's a walk with God that does and here we have Saul with an altar and it's an altar that he's built as a memorial and thanks offering to God for what God has done but in reality he doesn't have a real heart for the Lord now as this is taking place verse 36 Saul said let us go down after the Philistines by night and plunder them until the morning light and let us not leave a man of them and they said do whatever seems good to you then the priest said let us draw near to God here so Saul asked counsel of God shall I go down after the Philistines will you deliver them into the hand of Israel but he did not answer him that day and Saul said come over here all you chiefs of the people and know and see what this sin was today for as the Lord lives who saves Israel though it be in Jonathan my son he shall surely die but not a man among the people answered him then he said to all Israel you be on one side and my son Jonathan and I will be on the other side and the people said to Saul do what seems good to you therefore Saul said to the Lord God of Israel give a perfect lot in other words show us who's innocent so Saul and Jonathan were taken but the people escaped Saul said cast lots between my son Jonathan and me Jonathan was taken Saul said to Jonathan tell me what you've done Jonathan told him and said I only tasted a little honey with the end of the raw that was in my hand so now I must die Saul answered God do so and more also for you shall surely die Jonathan but the people said to Saul shall Jonathan die who has accomplished this great deliverance in Israel certainly not as the Lord lives not one hair of his head shall fall to the ground for he has worked with God this day so the people rescued Jonathan and he did not die then Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines and the Philistines went to their own place so he says let's find out what the Lord wants to do pray and seek the Lord well the Lord's not answering so Saul comes to realize somebody's sin somebody must have done something they broke the oath so he gets the soldiers on one side he and his son stand on the other they cast the lot all of the soldiers are excused not a single one of them is guilty and so now it's left between Saul and his son Jonathan the lot is cast and it falls on Jonathan and that's why he gets upset what have you done? and Jonathan's immediate response is I really didn't do anything I was hungry I tasted it with some honey well you're gonna die for doing that but the people say are you kidding me? it's because of Jonathan that we had this great victory he was innocent he was ignorant of the oath he did not take that oath and so they rescue him and they take him out of the hand of his father his father was bent on putting him to death but they said no once again this reveals the character of Saul and once again it shows how impetuous he is well as this is taking place in verse 47 Saul established his sovereignty over Israel and he fought against all his enemies on every side against Moab against the people of Ammon against Edom against the kings of Zobah against the Philistines wherever he turned he harassed them and he gathered an army and attacked the Amalekites and delivered Israel from the hands of those who plundered them the sons of Saul were Jonathan Yeshua Melchishua the names of his two daughters were there the name of the first born Marab the name of the second or younger Michal the name of Saul's wife was Annoam the daughter of Ahimaaz the name of the commander of his army was Abner the son of Nur, Saul's uncle Kish was the father of Saul Nur the father of Abner was the son of Abiel now there was fierce war with the Philistines all the days of Saul and when Saul saw any strong man or any valiant man he took him for himself two things there are commentators who look at Philistines in a variety of ways one is they're quite obviously historic people that were plaguing Israel for centuries they were a literal people that plagued Israel for centuries but there's also a type that's involved they represent the flesh God has called us to a commitment to him a commitment that is full on a commitment that is real when I was sharing with the men this last Friday at the men's retreat I was sharing with them about loving God and the Bible says very clearly that you are to love the Lord thy God with all of your heart with all that is within you and I was sharing with the men and I said you know the Lord has never anywhere in scripture given to us a command to love him sporadically no where does the Bible ever teach that a person is to follow Christ once a week or twice a week even the Bible teaches us that I have to love God completely with everything that is within me that there's no compromise in that but a full on commitment to that I am called by God to follow God and to love him with all that is in within myself and secondly I'm also to be a person who has a consistent walk with God Jesus didn't say pick up your cross occasionally and follow me Jesus said pick up your cross daily and follow me and so what God calls us to and I was sharing with the men this what God calls us to is a hundred percent commitment on a daily basis for an entire lifetime it's not a part time calling by God he didn't call me to follow him once a week twice a week three times a week but every day of the week not once a month every day of the month not one month out of a calendar year but every month in that year all the days of my life God calls us to full on commitment twenty four seven every day and to love him as we do so and so nowhere do you ever find in the Bible that God gives to us part time calling he calls us to follow him full time regardless of whether we're pastors whether we drive trucks whether we are people who are working in an office or own a business or whatever it may be God has called us to follow him in whatever state we're in consistently as a student as a wife as a son or daughter God has called us to do that and I was sharing that with the men there are things that work against us doing that and there are things in our flesh that war against the things of the spirit and so the things that I desire to do very often are the things I don't do and the things that I don't desire to do are the things that I find myself doing and like the apostle Paul oh wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death and so it's a constant warfare and if you don't overcome your flesh your flesh will overcome you that's what happens it'll overcome you the things that were occasional sins become the habit of your life and it's what you become known for I encourage the men again as I encourage myself as I encourage us to realize that there are works of the flesh that are constantly things that we deal with things that we die to the Philistines are a type of the flesh in the life of Saul and I want you to notice there was a fierce war with the Philistines all the days of Saul he fought but never overcame he fought but he never won and secondly when Saul saw any strong man or any valiant man he took him for himself when you don't trust in the arm of the Lord you will trust in the arm of flesh when you're not seeking God you'll seek help from man and that's exactly what he did anytime he saw a valiant man anytime he saw a warrior you would just conscript him into his army and made him one of his men he wanted to build up his army with the most valiant men in the nation of Israel it's interesting how when you're introduced to David now David who becomes the king of Israel is introduced as a man who is a warrior a proven warrior very often when you think of David perhaps if you think anything like I once did you may be thinking of David as a man who had a gentle spirit he was a loving man most definitely a musician and loved to sing songs to the Lord and he wrote so many songs a very deep man in everything but we also need to remember David as a warrior and when Saul was in need on one occasion one of his men said there's a young man by the name of David who is a warrior he spoke of him in that way this was a man who was a valiant this was a man who was a powerful man and this was a man that eventually became an armor bearer to King Saul when it was trusted men his trusted trusted guy who carried the armor he was the most trusted man that's what David became to Saul loved him like a father but David the Bible tells us has a heart after God and Saul never did Saul never did David was a man you can look to even though he had his failures and they're well known but when God spoke concerning him he said I have sought for a man for myself who has a heart after me and that man was David Saul on the other hand Saul was a man who would accumulate people around him who could be his armor bearer who could be his his elite forces because when you stop trusting God you begin trusting in the arms of man that's what you do when you stop trusting the Lord you will trust in a man to save you you will trust in a system to save you you'll trust in everything except the one who can save you and that's what happened here he fought constantly but never won the battle over the Philistines he never won the battle over his own flesh and we'll see that at the end of his life and two he didn't depend on God he ultimately depended on man and somebody who didn't depend on God and depended on man he ultimately reaped the consequences for that he had the appearance of religion we ought to pray let's make spiritual oaths I'm gonna hold fast to this oath you guys shouldn't have violated Moses' law he had the appearance of religion but when it came down to it he ultimately simply trusted in man and he fought for his own glory that's how he began this I will avenge myself on these people he fought for his own glory and not the glory of the Lord and ultimately he ends up with no glory because when you don't win the battle over your flesh and when you trust in man you're doomed to failure because you're not trusting in the right one the one who can deliver you and we will see that more clearly as we look in the life of a man named King Saul Father we ask that you would continue working in our lives we ask that you would continue to reveal to us any areas of our own lives Lord that we don't trust you in in Jesus' name I would ask that you would work in us even now Lord because there are areas of our lives that we might even be putting on like we're spiritual we can carry the Bible we can come to church we can do all the religious things when in reality Lord our hearts are far from you I would pray even now that you would work within us and that you would have your way in us Lord our eyes are closed our heads are bowed perhaps I have some in this room right now we need to get right with the Lord and you know it I want to pray for you right where you're at if you have a need to get right with Jesus I want to pray for you would you raise your hand and let me pray for you right now just raise your hand so I might see you Lord you see these hands you know the reason why they're being raised to you right now I ask that you would reach down and you would touch each individual may they have a sense of peace coming upon them as you're washing them and cleansing them now you said if we confess our sin that you are faithful and just to forgive us our sin into cleanses from all unrighteousness and even now Lord as their hands are raised to you and they're asking for your help and coming to you I ask that you'd wash and cleanse them now and now I pray that you'd fill them with your spirit and that from this point on they'll live for you and walk with you so we give you praises and glory for these things Lord and receive from you in Jesus name thank you Lord you can put your hands down and Father I ask that you keep moving in all of us to your glory in your name amen amen let's all stand you know we're uh... approaching memorial memorial day and all and I would encourage you today to not forget the cost for us to have the freedoms that we have we have memorial day because we're commemorating those who lost their life defending the freedoms that we possess and take for granted I was sharing with the second service today how that many years ago now a few years ago now I was with my father before he went home to be with the Lord and we were in Israel together and my dad was seated across from me on the bus and I was talking to my dad and my dad is a World War II vet he served on the USS Pennsylvania with the US Navy the USS Pennsylvania had been uh... sunk uh... in Pearl Harbor but had been recommissioned and was used during World War II and my dad served on that particular battleship and when I was a little boy my dad had one of these little albums that he brought home from the from the service and had pictures of the ship and pictures of him at the age of eighteen and all of that and I still remember that and so I was speaking to my dad and I said dad I said when you were in uh... the Navy and you were there off the coast of Japan what happened that your ship got torpedoed and my dad said you know son he says we were there he said the Pacific Fleet was lined up he said they were getting ready for an invasion of Japan and he said it was night it was uh... all the lights were to be off it was to be totally totally dark and everything he said and we could hear the sound of uh... of an airplane he said coming in the midst he said we we we believed it had to be one of ours because who would be foolish enough to fly in the midst of the Pacific Fleet like that he said well it turned out it was a Japanese kamikaze he said and he had a torpedo he said and as he's coming he actually released the torpedo my dad was in the front of the of the ship and he says I I I could hear the sound of something hit the water he said and then there's the sound of an explosion he said in the ship lifted up he said out of the water it lifted with the with the the uh... the impacted it hit where there were all these shells stored in everything he said in the explosion was incredible and as he spoke to me my dad in this was over fifty years after this took place my dad's eyes began to water and my dad teared up and began to cry and my dad said we lost a lot of good boys that day son we lost a lot of good boys and I was hit by that I thought over fifty years later my dad cannot speak about this without tears freedom is not free it cost it cost the lives of brave men and women so that you and I today could be here in this place worshiping God let us not forget it let us not forget the freedoms that we have that were hard earned and sometimes paid for with human blood with the blood of our our navy our marines our air corps coast guard our army let's not forget this and let's be grateful on memorial day for the freedoms that god has given to us god has been good to us and we need to thank him for that father we would thank you even now and i thank you that we're able to gather here in this place may we not take the freedoms that we have for granted we give you praise and we give you thanks and lord we especially thank you for the sacrifice of your son jesus who died for us we bless you we have opportunities to grow in him tonight wednesday friday saturday lord so many opportunities may we take advantage of them and grow in him that we might serve you in jesus name we pray amen one last thing let's thank our worship team today for the beautiful worship